


Getting help for Christmas

by Campodesol_2000



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, F/M, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff and Humor, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), ignoring CA:CW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-04 19:52:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14600484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Campodesol_2000/pseuds/Campodesol_2000
Summary: A few weeks before Christmas, Layna and Sadie get startled out of the movie they're watching when a loud noise resounds. Ignoring the voice in their heads that says they are going to die like the white person in the first five minutes of a Supernatural episode, they walk out of the house in their pyjamas to find two eerily familiar guys on a clearing in the forest behind their garden. What will happen when they offer them a couch to sleep on?





	1. Get help

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is the first fanfic I've written with my lovely sister. We are both kinda nuts, hence the ridiculousness of this fic.  
> We pretty much ignored the existence of All-Speak in this fic, but otherwise, it should be fairly accurate (no promises though). Tags are for the entire fic, not specifically for the single chapters per se.  
> Anyway, hope you like it!

   BOOM.  

   “Ouch.”

   The two gods groaned and sat up slowly. The raven-haired brother looked up and moved his limbs to check for fractures. As he looked around, he found they had fallen in a clearing, but he could see vague lights through the trees, so they couldn’t be far from civilization. “What just happened?” 

   His brother glared furiously at him.  “Have you already forgotten, brother?” Thor spat. “We flew, we fought, we fell, it is not that difficult.” 

   Loki raised his eyebrows at his brother’s tone. “Hold your horses, geez. I was merely asking because the fall was disconcerting.” He looked at his surroundings again and let out a small noise of triumph. “We’re on earth, don’t you see? All those trees, the grass and the stars,  I mean, obviously. It cannot be hard to fool mere Midgardians, we could have done worse.” 

   Thor laughed derisively. “Get help?” 

“I’m not, and I repeat, not, doing ‘get help’,” Loki spat back. “It’s too embarrassing.” 

   A smirk appeared on Thor’s face. “Not for me, it isn’t.”

 

Layna grabbed the remote and paused the film. 

   Almost immediately, her younger sister began to protest.  “OI! We were just getting to the exciting part!” 

   Layna shrugged and stood from the couch. "I've got to pee. Relax, I’ll be back in a minute. Something to drink?” 

   Sadie pursed her lips and was quiet for a few seconds. Only when Layna had almost reached the door, she spoke up: “Chocolate milk.”

   “Hot?”

   “Yes, I am. But, yes, duh.”

   “With whipped cream?”

   “Have you gone insane?”

   “Duh.”

   No less than ten seconds later, a loud bang suddenly resounded outside and a flash of light made the both of them jump three feet into the air. Sadie sat upright, entirely forgetting the film for the moment, and walked to the window in her Captain America onesie. “What was that?” she asked. 

   Layna came back from where she was standing in the kitchen and walked over to stand next to her. “No idea, should we go and find out?” Layna asked. 

   Sadie quirked her eyebrow and stepped back from the window. She folded her arms. “It’s eleven o’clock. And besides, it’s too cold, so nah.” 

   She walked over to the couch, but Layna knew she could persuade her sister to go after all, especially considering the film they were watching. She smirked. “Would Edmund stay home?” She stepped closer to the couch. “Would Lucy?” she said melodramatically. 

   Sadie sighed. “No. But they live in Narnia, you punk. And besides, Eustace went with them on a trip, and he turned into a dragon!” 

   Layna burst out laughing. “Fair enough. My point is, we should take a look. For the sake of mankind.” She stood up straight, solemnly placing her hand on her chest, trying not to laugh again, but failing spectacularly after three seconds. 

   “Have you lost your marbles?” Sadie sighed again, but stood anyway and grabbed the keys from the table. She put on her shoes and walked to the door. “I thought you said you had to pee…” 

   Layna shrugged. “Pff, details, I’ll do that afterwards. Come on,” she said cheerily, while she opened the door and stepped outside after grabbing her taser from the cabinet. It was highly unlikely they would encounter something dangerous, but one could never know for sure. It was pitch-dark outside and, indeed, freezing. Sadie folded her arms before her chest and walked briskly through the forest to where the noises had come from. Layna, however, skipped along enthusiastically in her Iron Man onesie, practically jumping up and down. It wasn’t long before they heard voices. The sisters looked at each other. They slowed their pace and hid behind two trees to listen. 

   “Hold on, brother. I think I just heard something,” they heard someone say. “Do they speak English here?”

   “How would I know? Just do it!” another voice answered. 

   “Please! Someone help us!” the first stranger spoke up. 

   Layna and Sadie looked at each other. 

   “Get help,” Layna murmured. She looked at her sister.

   “It’s embarrassing,” Sadie whispered.

   “Not for me, it isn’t,” Layna finished. They had heard enough. They walked forward and when they pushed away the branches that obscured their view, they saw two men. The muscled one supported the other and walked their way with some difficulty. They hadn’t seen them yet, the sisters were sure of that, but he still managed to walk straight to the bushes they were hiding in. 

   “Please! Someone help us! My brother is hurt,” he called again. Layna stepped forward first and Sadie follow two seconds later, a bit more wary. Both men looked up at the sounds of breaking branches. The tall man looked at them pleadingly. “Please, we need help! My brother, he-” His voice broke and he helplessly pointed at the other man. He stepped forward and startled Layna, who grabbed her taser. She pointed it at the blond guy. The man let himself drop to the ground and curled up like an armadillo. “No, please, I beg you! No tasers!” Layna was surprised by the reaction. 

   The black haired man was suddenly able to stand by himself and looked at the other with quirked eyebrows and a smirk firmly plastered across his face. “I thought we were doing ‘get help’,” he said mockingly, lightly pushing the other in the back with his toe. 

   The girls smirked at each other.  _ Just as we thought, _ Layna mouthed. Sadie could only barely suppress her laughter. Layna looked at the guy laying on the ground and spoke up. “Oh, you don’t like tasers? And what if I do this?” She waved the taser in his general direction and smirked as the man couldn't suppress a shudder. 

   The raven haired man full out laughed. “I like them. Can we keep them?” 

   Sadie huffed indignantly. “Excuse me? We haven’t even introduced ourselves yet and you’re already claiming us like some sort of animals?” She strode over to the man and slapped him lightly in the face. The other man looked up at the sound and burst out laughing at the baffled look on his brother’s face. 

   Layna whooped, doing a little victory dance for the sake of her sister. “Way to go, girl!” She gave Sadie a high five, who had a smug grin on her face. 

   The blond guy rose from the ground. “They are indeed likeable. Wait, you speak English?” 

   “Yep,” Layna said, popping the p. 

   “Well, that’s convenient. Could you perhaps tell us where we are?” 

   “Only when you first tell us who you are,” Sadie stated. 

   Both men grinned at the girls’ cheekiness. “I suppose that’s fair,” the blond man stated. “I’m Thor, God of Thunder, king of Asgard. This is my brother Loki, God of Mischief.” 

   Looks of recognition crossed the girls’ faces. “Oh, I know you guys, you’re from the Avengers,” Sadie said.

   “Man, that’s awesome,” Layna said, jumping on the spot. Sadie pushed on her shoulders, forcing her to calm down. 

   “Well, one of us is…” Thor said, and Loki clipped him on the head. 

   Both girls broke out laughing. “I’m Layna, by the way, and this is my sis Sadie. But, to come back to your question, we, gentlemen, are in the glorious country of Belgium. It’s a teeny tiny country, really, even smaller than our home country, the Netherlands. It’s good for stargazing, however, so who cares,” Layna stated dismissively. 

   “What are you guys doing here in the middle of nowhere anyway?” Sadie asked curiously. 

   Thor and Loki looked at each other, apparently having a telepathic conversation. “We, uh… we just thought it would be nice to pay earth a visit again. It’s been a long time, with the destruction of the Bifröst and such,” Loki said.

   Thor tapped his brother on the shoulder and said, attempting to whisper: “I don’t think they know what the Bifröst is, brother…”

   “Yes, we do, we’re not stupid.” The brothers looked at the girls with surprise. Sadie continued. “And besides, we know the Bifröst has been repaired a long time ago. If memory serves correctly, you were both in New York not too long ago, so don’t you dare lie to us again.” 

   After a few seconds, Loki began to smile. “I definitely like her. Alright then, we were flying away from the destruction Surtur had caused in Asgard, when we got into a fight. However, someone thought it would be funny to open the doors of the spaceship, so when we lost our balance, we kind of… fell.”

   “You… fell?” Layna asked disbelievingly. She shrugged. “Well, so much for gods.” Sadie burst out laughing again and the gods soon joined her. “So, what are you going to do now?”

   “Uhm.. We... I… well,” Thor stammered and then fell quiet.

   “Sounds like a plan,” Layna commented. “You know what, we have extra beds and a sofa, why don’t you sleep at our place for the night?” The men looked surprised, but eagerly agreed. The girls smiled. First at each other, then at the guys before them. 

   “Come on then,” Sadie said. She led the way back to the house. Loki joined her, while Thor fell in step next to Layna.  They walked the few minutes to their house in silence. At some point Layna shuddered, still wearing only a onesie. Thor seemed to hesitate for a second, but eventually wrapped his arm around her shoulders. It startled her a little, but didn’t pull away as a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. When they arrived at the house, Sadie spent way too long looking for her keys. And, of course, when she had finally found them, Loki accidentally brushed his hand against hers, so she dropped them on the ground. They both bent down at the same time and their heads bump into each other’s. 

   “Ouch,” they both said simultaneously. 

   Thor and Layna snickered. “That’s exactly something I would do,” Layna said to Thor, soft enough for only him to hear it. He smiled, his teeth flashing white in the night. Loki rubbed his forehead, but soon enough he stepped towards Sadie, asking her if she was hurt.

   Her cheeks slowly turned a bright red. “N-no, I uhm… It’s okay,” she stammered. After trying to decide who was going to pick up the keys, Sadie pushed Loki to stand a few feet away and reaches for the keys. She finally managed to get the key in the lock and opened the door. The film was still paused on the TV, so there was a soft light coming from the living room, but otherwise, their house was dark. 

   “Layna, didn't you have to go to the bathroom?” Sadie asked her.

   Layna hit herself on the forehead. “Pfft, I totally forgot, thanks.” She went upstairs, because it would have been entirely too awkward to go downstairs with everyone in the hall. Sadie led the men to the living room. She offered them something to drink and made hot chocolate for herself. When they had all sat down around the TV, Layna called from the first floor. “Hey! If you guys want to see a beautiful sky, you should come and take a look!” Thor and Loki shared a look. After a second or two, Thor nodded firmly and dropped Mjölnir on a stack of books, after which he walked to the staircase. Sadie looked at Loki expectantly, but he didn't move an inch. Her heart began to flutter, but she tried to suppress it. When she looked at him, he smiled. 

 

  “Which film is this?” he asked quietly, as if not to startle her by speaking too loudly. 

   Sadie, clearly glad with the excuse to look away from him, turned away and watched the frame, in which three people were having a conversation. She shrugged. “It's from a series called Narnia. It's like another universe. That's Lucy, and beside her are Edmund and Caspian. Long story short, they kind of have to save the world.” Loki couldn't suppress a smile while he watched her. She looked so… sweet, innocent, but at the same time she was really bold. She was different from any girl or woman he had ever been with. She continued talking, but as soon as she saw him staring, her eyes dropped and with crimson cheeks, her voice faded away. 

   After a few moments of silence, he decided he had to say something. “So… What are you and Layna doing here?” he asked. 

   She lifted her head. “We both have two weeks off, so we decided to go on a holiday. It's been a really long time since we've done anything like this. I mean, we're both still students, so we don't have much time to spend together. This is our second house.” She talked on and on, rattling about her study-- apparently she wanted to become an industrial designer, whatever the meaning of that was-- and Loki just listened. 

   “What about you?” she suddenly asked.

   “Hm?”

   Sadie giggled. “Well, I know there aren't any films, or TVs for that matter, in Asgard. So… how do you pass the time?” 

   Loki shrugged. “Reading. Looking at plays. Working out. It sounds boring, doesn't it?” 

   “To be honest, not really.” When Loki arched an eyebrow, Sadie blushed. “I mean, it sounds perfect. Days doing nothing. Reading, walking through the gardens… If you have any, of course.” She fell silent, looking at him expectantly. 

   A broad smile appeared on his face. This was going to be fun, describing everything. “I think you would like it there. For me, the gardens are… well… normal. We have waterfalls, huge meadows and forests. We have the most exotic flowers and animals.” He talked on and on, encouraged by the look of wonder on her face. 

   Every time he mentioned another part of the Asgardian gardens, her eyes grew wider. “You really have dolphins in the lake?” she asked. Before he could answer, however, two pair of footsteps came thundering down the stairs.

Thor walked up two flights past a number of quite chaotic rooms, until he saw Layna’s head sticking out of a hole in the ceiling. 

   “Come on, you can use the rope ladder to get up.” Her head disappeared again. He grabbed the ladder and quickly climbed on the roof. He dropped down next to Layna and lay down on his back next to her. Her teeth were clattering and her hands looked purple, but she didn’t seem to mind much. Thor, however, did mind, so he took of his cape and wrapped it around her like a blanket. She snuggled into it, pulling the cloth up to her nose.

  “Thanks,” she said and she pointed at the stars over her head. “You see those stars over there, the ones forming a saucepan of sorts?” Thor nodded. “That’s Ursa Major. And the w-shaped constellation on the other side of the sky, that’s Cassiopeia. Over there is a group of stars that vaguely looks like a hunter, that’s Orion.” As she continued pointing out constellations and telling the stories behind them, Thor just listened, smiling at her enthusiasm. She was a most charming combination of intelligent, enthusiastic and witty. Even though they had only met around 15 minutes ago, he felt like he could listen to her chatter for hours. “... you?” 

   When silence fell over them, Thor realised she had asked him a question. “My sincerest apologies, I’m afraid I didn't catch your question just now.” 

   Layna giggled. “Why are you speaking so formally? It's not like I’m somebody important or anything.”  _ Not yet _ , he thought, but didn't say anything. “Anyways, I asked what the constellations are like where you come from? Are they different?” 

   Thor nodded. “Yes, they're entirely different. Asgard is quite a distance away from Midgard, these constellations would look deformed when viewed from Asgard. We wouldn’t consider them constellations, then. Other constellations adorn our skies, though. They fit within our myths and stories, just like yours.” 

   “Whaaat? You have to tell me everything about them tomorrow. Now, my nose is freezing off, so I’m going inside to get some hot chocolate. Do you want some too?”

   “I’d love that.” 

   Layna tied his cape around her shoulders and they climbed down the ladder. Layna waited on the attic till he had climbed down, but before she could walk down the stairs, he brushed his knuckles over her cheek, making her blush and sprint downstairs, the cape still tightly wound around her. Thor smirked. This was going to be a fun time.

 

Loki looked up as his brother and Layna tumbled through the door. He blinked and shared a look with Sadie, who only shrugged. 

   “She’s craaazy,” she stage whispered, which made Layna burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

   Loki smirked and shook his head as Thor sat down on a chair next to the couch. “Brother, what are you doing? Did she swipe your cape?”

   “I… Err, she...” Thor stammered, trying to explain without too much shining through. He gestured abstractly in Layna’s general direction “Well…” 

   “Very eloquent,” Loki said, but nodded. He understood completely. 

   Sadie stood up and dragged her sister to the kitchen, sounds of laughter fading. 

   Thor quirked up and smirked. “So, were any engaging topics discussed?” he asked with a knowing smirk.

   Loki sighed, stretching his legs over the full width of the couch. “You know full well I’m not like that, but I must say she’s intriguing.”

   “I agree. Which reminds me of the problem of our eventual inevitable departure. Since we do not possess a mobile phone, nor the device one would apparently require to send digital mail, there is the problem of staying in touch. If they would want to, of course.” 

   Loki leaned forward on the couch, resting his chin in his hands. “Hm… I guess we’ll just have to convince them to let us stay longer. I mean, how hard can that be? Heimdall is still with our people, so we do not have to find a way to return immediately.” 

   Thor nodded at his brothers words. “That seems to be the ideal course of action for the time being, brother. Oh, hush, they're coming back.” They struck the most unnatural poses ever and pretended like they hadn't just forged a plan into the girls’ lives. They looked at the brothers with narrowed eyes, but said nothing. 

   Sadie walked over to the couch and sat down on Loki’s legs. He ‘oomphed’ loudly in protest. “Heavy?” Sadie asked coyly. 

   He shook his head, a grimace on his face. Sadie smirked and leaned back against the couch to make herself comfortable.

   Layna walked over to where Thor was seated. “Scoot over, you,” she said, slapping his shoulder softly with the back of the hand she wasn't holding cocoa in. She squirmed between the arm of the chair and Thor’s leg. “Good thing I’m not fat, huh?” 

   Sadie looked at her sister. “Layna…” she said insistently, “I actually still want to watch the film.” 

   “Oooh, you're right.” She looked at Thor. “It's an awesome film about four kids having to save the world.” Thor shrugged. He didn't mind as long as she didn't move to sit somewhere else, not that he would say that out loud, of course. Her face lit up. “Awesomesauce.” 

   Sadie looked at Loki. “Like I said. Craaazy.” Loki grinned at their antics. Sadie leaned forward to grab the remote, causing Loki to ‘oomph’ again. She pressed play and all that was heard from that moment was the occasional comment from Thor and Loki (and random outbursts from Layna, mixed with laughter from Sadie).

   “Eustace! DON’T! Oh, damnit, now you’re a  _ dragon! _ ” (Thor)

   “EDMUND!!! NOOOOOO! DON’T DIE!!!” (Layna)

   “No no no!! Caspian, don’t go there! You have to rule Narnia!!!” (Loki)

   After the movie, Layna dropped her head against the back of the chair and let it roll against Thor’s shoulder. “Well, that was an emotional rollercoaster.”

   “For you it was, not for me. I’ve seen it three times. ” Sadie shrugged and couldn’t suppress a yawn. “I think we should get ready for sleep.”

   “Pfft, boooring!” Layna jumped up and Thor’s face fell a bit, but she pulled him from the chair and jumped on his back. “Come on! Let’s go outside for a bit!” 

   “What? You aren’t tired?” Sadie asked.

   “Of course not. Thor, what are you waiting for? I’ll show you the telescope in the garden. The door is over there.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and put her chin on his right shoulder, so that her head was besides Thor’s. “Come on,” she whispered in his ear. Thor shuddered and Layna smirked, though he couldn't see it. “You’re slow.” 

   “Yes, alright, I am going.” Thor walked them to the door at the other end of the living room and turned around so Layna could open it.

   “Couldn't you have opened it with your foot or something?” Layna mock-whined, before they disappeared through the door. 

   “Layna! You lazy pratt!” Sadie yelled from her place on the Loki’s lap. 

   “And yet you love me!” she yelled back.

   “Please, do not yell in my ear!” they heard Thor yelling just as loudly. 

   “Layna! You’re not delightful, whatever you think you are!” Layna huffed indignantly and the door to the garden closed. Sadie sighed and got up. “So I guess we have to make the beds.” Another sigh. “I hate that. I’m too small to do it properly.” 

   Loki took his chance. “I’ll help you. Where are the beddings?” 

   Sadie walked upstairs, trusting him to follow. Then she went to the biggest room, which belonged to Layna. She walked through the room and opened the window. “OI!” she yelled out of the window. “They have to sleep on the floor, right?!” Loki made a sound that was somewhere between dismay and amusement. 

   “YES! I CLAIM THOR!!!” was shouted back. 

    Sadie snorted and turned to Loki. “Typical. I guess that means you’ll have to sleep in my room.” She didn't wait for him to answer and went to grab two air mattresses and sleeping bags. She dumped them in Loki’s arms and stepped out into the hallway. “Come on.” Loki smiled and followed her to another room, hers, he assumed. “So, this is my room.”  _ No shit, sherlock,  _ she thought.  “Oh wait, I forgot the pump. I’m not going to blow air into that whole damn thing myself.” She stepped out of the room, leaving Loki to take a look around. The first thing he noticed was that books lay everywhere. Everywhere. On the floor, on the bed, on the desk, in the closet. The walls were covered with wallpapers, posters and drawings, which, he assumed, were drawn by her hand. What got his attention were three huge posters on the desk, below a black leather folder and a few thin books. Before he could take a better look, though, sounds of heavy things falling sounded through the house and after a few seconds Sadie screamed for help. 

   “Loki, little help please!” A short silence, followed by: “I can’t do this! Why can’t I get a stupid pump to work?!” Fake sobbing. “I can’t…” Loki hurried out of the room and saw her lying on the floor, face first and stretched out on the floor, amidst a heap of junk. He felt a wave of fondness for her crash over him and he sank onto the floor next to her. He turned her over and helped her sit up. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “I fail at life,” she whimpered. “Nothing goes the way I want it to. I drop things, like all the time…” 

   “There, there,” Loki said, petting her head. He started to smile when he saw her pouting face and helped her stand up. “Come on, you go and brush your teeth or something and I’ll finish this.” Sadie didn’t say anything else. She put her head on his shoulder for a second before turning around and walking to what Loki presumed was the bathroom. He picked up all the supplies needed to get air in the mattresses and walked back into Sadie’s room. There he put the plug in the socket and inflated the air mattress. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do. It wasn’t like she would have to sleep on it, so it was fine. “Good enough,” he grumbled before heading to the other room and doing the same all over again. When he was done, he turned to walk to ‘his’ room. He stopped to see Sadie leaning against the doorframe. She smiled and grabbed the bedding from the floor to put it on Loki’s bed. She gestured for him to follow her and they both laid down on their respective beds. 

  “Good night,” Sadie said, and Loki heard she almost instantly fell asleep.

  “Good night,” he whispered back and turned around so he lay facing the door. 


	2. Christmas?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When they wake up, they get to know each other better. After a brilliant idea, Sadie gets Layna to invite the Avengers over for Christmas day. This means some extra shopping is necessary!

The next morning, Layna woke up to snoring coming from the floor of the room. She groaned and tried to make the annoying noise stop by flapping her hands at it, but it didn’t work. She became more aware of her surroundings and suddenly remembered who it was that was snoring on the floor. _Ooooommmgggg_ , she thought, _that’s right, there are gods sleeping on our floor_. She peeked over the edge of her bed and saw Thor sprawled on the air mattress on his stomach, looking about as majestic as a beached whale. One leg was poking out from under his blanket and his arm was in a position that was surely stopping the blood flow to his hand. She stood up, careful not to wake up the God of Thunder from his sleep, and walked downstairs after grabbing a book on Norse mythology from her bookcase. She was still wearing her Iron Man onesie, because she had been too lazy to change into proper pyjamas last night. Once she got in the living room, she dropped the book on the small table next to her comfy chair and sauntered over to the kitchen.

   “Mooorning,” she heard and she jumped. She looked up to see Loki leaning against the counter, taking a bite from a sandwich he had apparently made after going through all of their cabinets.

   “Geez, you startled me. An early riser too?” Layna asked. He nodded, taking another bite from his sandwich. “I trust you slept well?”

   “Well, it wasn’t my room back in Asgard, but it sufficed.”

   Layna shook her head, grinning, and walked over to the fridge, grabbing the ingredients for her own breakfast. Halfway through, though, she stopped dead in her tracks and started putting some of the things she had gathered back in the cabinets. “I just thought of the most brilliant idea ever,” she stated.

   Loki looked at her questioningly. “Oh, yeah? And what might that be?”

   Layna smirked. “Well, you see, I can’t cook, but Sadie can and I kind of feel like having ‘wentelteefjes’. I believe it’s called gypsy toast in English. It probably doesn’t sound like much, but it’s delicious.” Loki shrugged in a way that said, ‘If you say so.’ Layna grabbed a banana and went to sit in her chair in the living room. Loki soon joined her and sat down on the couch, eyeing Layna’s book. She held it up for him. “It’s a book about ancient Norse myths, I thought it would be appropriate to know a bit more about your culture, since two of the head figures of all those stories are now staying in our house.”

   Loki smiled approvingly and took the offered book. As he leafed through the book, looks of approval crossed his face, until he reached a certain page. “WHAT?” he yelled.

   Layna almost dropped her banana at the sudden outburst. “What’s wrong? People are still sleeping here, remember, calm your tits.”

   “Well, not anymore,” came from the door. Thor was standing in the doorway and looked at his brother in concern. Above them, they heard stumbling. Apparently, Sadie had woken up too. “Layna asked a good question, though, what’s wrong brother?”

   Loki jabbed a finger at the book in front of him. He struggled to form words. “I… It… Just look at it, it is completely wrong! It’s blasphemous!”

   Thor walked over to where his brother was seated on the couch and read the myth Loki was furiously pointing at. “Aha, I see. Brother, you know that’s not true, don’t let it affect you so much. Those mortals can’t possibly know the true version of the events.”

   Anything else Thor might have said, was cut of by Sadie’s sleepy voice. “What’s going on?” she asked, coming through the door. She ran a hand through her long hair and walked over to the couch.

   Loki instantly calmed down a bit and sighed. “Nothing, dear, just slander and lies about my family.” Thor and Layna shared a look at the endearment, but didn’t comment.

   “What? That doesn’t sound like nothing, what do you mean?” Loki showed her the page and she frowned. “What’s wrong with it?”

   “Yeah, what is it? I can’t see anything,” Layna piped up, walking over to see what all the fuss was about.

   “Can’t you see?! What this book is saying is a lie. It says here Fenrir was Hela’s wolf and killed thousands of innocent people. How dare they insult my son?”

   Layna and Sadie looked at each other. “You have a wolf… for a son?” Sadie asked cautiously.

   “Yes,” Loki said, as if that was the most normal thing in the world. Thor smirked. “And that’s not even the weirdest thing. Loki has an eight-legged horse for a child and is actually Sleipnir’s mother.”

   Before he could tell any more embarrassing stories, Loki clasped a hand over Thor’s mouth. “Okaaay, that’s enough stories for today.” Layna and Sadie, however, had a look in their eyes that said, ‘This conversation isn’t over yet, just you wait and see.’ “Layna, weren’t you saying something about breakfast?”

   Layna’s eyes lit up and she turned to Sadie. “Make ‘wentelteefjes’!” she said.

   Sadie shot her a glare. “No,” she said.

   Layna pouted. “Pleeeaaassseee? I’m sure Thor and Loki would like to try this Dutch specialty,” she said, knowing this would convince her sister to make the delicacy.

   Sadie knew exactly what her sister was doing, but after a short staring contest, she walked to the kitchen, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. “Fine!” she exclaimed. “Lazy pratt!”

   “Love you too.” Layna smirked and blew a kiss after her sister. “So,” she turned to Thor, “you looked comfortable when I woke up. How did you sleep? Do you always snore?”

   Thor huffed indignantly. “I don’t snore!” he said defensively.

   “Yes, you do,” Loki and Layna said in unison. He glared at Loki, but smiled at Layna. “Anyhow, I slept well, thanks for asking. Just a tad short, but that’s my own fault.”

   Loki looked at him skeptically. “How long did you stay outside?”

   Thor chuckled uncomfortably, running a hand over the back of his neck. “Uhmm, only a few hours…”

   “Totally worth it,” Layna said and walked to the kitchen after putting the book on Norse mythology somewhere Loki couldn’t see it. “I’m going to save Sadie from potentially falling plates or pans. Try not to burn down the house in the meanwhile.” She winked and closed the kitchen door behind her.

   Sadie had turned on the radio and cosy christmas music rang through the room. She turned to look at Layna after making sure a stack of plates wasn’t going to fall down on the floor. She started talking in Dutch. “So, what did you two get up to after you claimed Thor?”

   A blush crept over Layna’s face. “Oh my gods, I did, didn’t I?” Sadie smirked and nodded, flipping a piece of toast in the pan. “Well, he didn’t immediately run away, so I guess I’m fine.”

   “Actually, I think you may be more than fine, if you know what I mean…”

   “Same for you. But, back to your question, I showed him how the telescope works, though I don’t think he really understood. I think the concept made him think of Heimdall, because he started explaining everything about how they travel between the nine realms. After looking at the stars and talking for a couple of hours, we went inside and basically dropped dead on our beds.”

   “Did you brush your teeth?” Sadie asked, narrowing her eyes. “Oh never mind, you’re a grown up woman, I’m not going to act like your mom. Layna laughed and started helping with their breakfast. “There’s something we need to discuss with them,” Sadie said after a while.

   Layna looked up from where she was keeping a close eye on the gipsy toast. “What is it?” she asked, completely clueless.

   Sadie rolled her eyes at her sister’s obliviousness. “How long are we going to let them stay here? Should we help them find a better place?”

   “Better place? How could it be if we aren’t there? No, we should think of as many reasons as possible as to why they should stay here. Not that just us isn’t reason enough, but you know, just in case.” Sadie nodded thoughtfully, completely agreeing with the plan. “Alright, we should be as dramatic as possible, which is my area of expertise. Remember that one time in school when I-”

   Sensing where this was going, Sadie cut her off. “Yes, I know what you did when you found out someone turned out to be taller than you, I don’t need to be reminded of that embarrassing moment…”

   Layna stuck out her tongue. “Pfft, you’re just boring. But okay, moving on. Mission ‘Keep the Gods’ has officially begun. Reason 1: they need a place to stay safe from all their enemies,” Sadie rolled her eyes again, “reason 2: we need to show them all that Belgium and Holland have to offer.”

   “Reason 3: we need their experience in the battlefield and such for a school report and we can’t possibly finish the assignment without them. Reason 4: we like them. Wait what?”

   Layna snorted. “Well, can’t say it’s a lie. Maybe we shouldn’t put it that bluntly though… Although, it might actually work. I’ve got a plan,” Layna announced proudly.

   Sadie groaned. Suddenly, their favourite christmas song came on. They both jumped to the radio to turn up the volume and Layna ran into the living room. “Thor! Listen! This song is amazing!” she said, switching to English again. She started singing along to the lyrics of ‘Sleighride’ and pulled Thor out of her lazy chair, which he had snaffled. She danced through the room and laughed at the surprised and lost look at the god’s face. “It’s called dancing, Thor,” she said.

   “I know that! It’s just very different from Asgardian dancing…”

   “Now that I can believe. Just sit down again,” she said, motioning to her chair, “breakfast is almost ready.” She grinned as she walked back into the kitchen and grabbed the plates with warm food. She managed to carry four plates to the couch without dropping anything and squirmed next to Thor on her chair with a slightly proud look on her face. Sadie, who had come after her with four cups of hot cocoa, sat down carefully and leaned against the arm of the couch, taking a sip of her drink. She looked longingly at her sister and Thor, then sideways to Loki. Loki wasn’t tricked, though, and he scooted closer to Sadie. He took the cups of cocoa from her hands and after giving everyone a cup, he sat back down again and smoothly put his arm on the back of the couch, just behind Sadie. Layna seemed to prepare herself for something big, and eventually got straight to the point. “So, how long are you planning to stay here?” Thor and Loki looked at each other for a few seconds. Before they could answer, however, Layna had already ploughed on. “Personally, I would have no problems with giving you guys a place to sleep for a while? We could help look for a hotel or something, but it’s almost Christmas, so I don’t think there will be many vacant rooms. Besides, who would protect you from all your enemies when we’re not there?”

   Thor let out a booming laugh. “Yes, I can see why you are far more capable of protecting us than we are…”

   “Uhuh, what I said. You definitely need a guide to show you all of the mighty Belgium and Holland,” she continued, dramatically waving her arms to underline her words, almost hitting Thor in the face. “I mean, if you were to just go outside and randomly pick some berries to eat, you would definitely die from food poisoning.”

   Sadie rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics and posed a more reasonable argument. “We have an assignment for school for our project about ancient cultures, and we could really use the knowledge from someone having actually lived in one. Only if you would want to help, of course.”

   Both Loki and Thor nodded. “That shouldn’t be much of a problem,” Thor said, pretending to think about it. “Those are all very tempting reasons to stay. Only… The air mattress I slept on was a bit too soft for my liking.”

   Loki snickered. “I know right?” Loki answered.

   Sadie huffed. “I didn't inflate them. You did.”

   “And besides,” Layna said, “I don’t see how you could have noticed that, the way you were sleeping with half of your body on the ground.” She looked at Thor with a smirk.

   “Like, bruh,” Sadie said. “Is ‘no’ an emotion, 'cause I feel it.” The sisters burst out laughing and the gods groaned. How were they going to deal with both the sisters’ sass? Sadie grabbed her plate from the table and started eating. She stopped, however, her fork hanging in the air to the way of her mouth, when she so everyone looking at her. “What?” she said. “I'm hungry. I made this, I'm going to eat it.”

   Layna giggled and grabbed her plate as well. Soon, both of the gods followed their example. It was silent for a second as Layna and Sadie looked at the Gods expectantly as they took their first bite.

   “This is delicious,” Loki said with his mouth full of food. Sadie’s cheeks slightly reddened at the compliment and she took a bite of her own breakfast. Layna was a bit less reserved and was almost breathing in her breakfast.

   “I agree, I see why you need us to discover more about your country,” Thor said.

   Layna nodded eagerly and finished the last bite of her food. “Splendid, when do we start?” she asked. The gods shrugged. “Alright, how about we go shopping for Christmas presents?”

   “I certainly like the idea of presents, but what is Christmas, again?” Thor asked, his face scrunched up in thought. He shook his head as he was unable to recall what Christmas meant for Midgardians.

   Layna giggled, but before she could answer, her sister interrupted her. “Do we have to go _today_? I don’t feel like going out,” she whined.

   “You never feel like going outside,” Layna said, looking at her pointedly.

   “So?” she said defensively.

   Layna’s face lit up as she suddenly got an idea. “What about you stay at home making preparations for the party, while I go shopping with them?”

   Sadie looked positively scandalised. “So I’m just going be left alone?” she asked, glaring daggers at her sister.

   Layna shrugged and walked to the kitchen to put away her plate. “You could, of course, ask Loki to stay here with you…” she said over her shoulder. Sadie’s head shot up and she turned to Loki. He smiled and nodded. Layna came out of the kitchen just in time to see his reaction and clapped her hands excitedly. “Good, then Thor and I will go to the city for the day.”

   Sadie looked like she thought of something and opened her mouth. “Maybe you can buy some clothes too. I mean, their clothes look awesome, but they will kind of stand out in a crowd everywhere other than Comic Con.”

   Layna nodded and gave the men a look-over. She tapped her chin with a finger. “True. What would suit you guys? What about a suit for Loki and jeans for Thor?”

   “Just jeans?” Sadie asked, smirking.

   Layna made a gesture that meant, ‘Obviously’, but she continued. “No, I was aiming at something casual for his shirt too. Probably a sweater, a winter coat and sneakers or something. I think Loki should wear something fancier. A trench coat, maybe?”

   Sadie nodded approvingly as she left the couch and cleaned up all of the other plates. “Alright then. But… Layna… Maybe you should wear something other than your onesie. Just saying.”

   Layna rolled her eyes but went upstairs to get dressed. After ten minutes, she came down again and, after putting on her shoes and a warm coat, she threw Thor’s cape over his head, startling him. “Come on, let’s go.” She pulled him outside and closed the door behind her.

 

As soon as the door closed behind her sister, Sadie turned to Loki and smiled. “I always get her to do what I want and leave me home,” she said. She looked at the mug in his hands, eyebrows raised in question. “Are you finished? With your drink, I mean.”

   Loki smiled and gave her his mug. “Shall I help you to do the dishes?” he asked.

   She shook her head almost immediately and took the mug from his hands. “No, no, you’re our guest. Or mine, now that I think of it. You can’t do the dishes if you’re a guest, now can you?” she asked as if it was the most logical thing in the world. She walked into the kitchen and put everything on the kitchen counter. With pursed lips she looked around the room. Was there something else that needed to be washed? No? Good. Without saying a word, she opened a cupboard and took out a washing-up bowl and brush.

   When she turned around, Loki was leaning against the counter with a tea towel in his hands. Surprised, she opened her mouth, but he was faster. “With me being a guest, you can’t ask me to help, but I can always offer,” he said. He bowed mockingly and motioned for her to continue what she was doing.

   She smiled and turned on the tap. “Luckily, it isn’t a lot of work,” she said, but her thought went along a totally different path. _In heaven’s name, why does he have to be so nice? Okay, he ís a freaking god of Asgard, it’s not weird, but still… He is going away at some point. I just… Knowing myself, I’m going to fall for him at some point sooner rather than later, and that can’t happen. Can it?_ She sighed, forgetting that Loki was still there. He looked at her, concerned.

   “Are you alright?” he asked.

   She nodded quickly, not wanting to show her doubts. To change the subject, she said the first thing that jumped into her head. “Actually, why would we celebrate Christmas alone?” she blurted out.

   Loki arched his eyebrows. “What do you mean?” Sadie dropped the brush in the bowl and turned 90 degrees to be able to look at him directly. Even though she had only asked it to change the subject, she was rapidly becoming more enthusiastic about the idea. “Well, look. Layna and I, we kind of ... know the Avengers. Wait, we don’t know them, we… Ugh… This is so much easier in Dutch. Sorry, Layna usually knows what I mean when I spout random English words, but you...” She sighed and tried again. “We… met Peter Parker at a science conference for students. You know, Spiderman… Anyway, we kept bumping into each other, like, the whole day, so eventually we just started looking at things together. He gave us his number, and we kept in touch. He even introduced us to Tony and Steve, his dads.” She smiled. “Well, of course not really, but it’s fun to call them that.” She hesitantly looked at Loki’s scrunched up face. “If you’re okay with that, of course…”

   Loki’s head snapped up. “No, no, of course! I think that would be really nice,” he said.

   “Then… What’s wrong? You don’t seem to like it as much as I thought you would.” Sadie dried her hands and reached out her arm to put her hand on his shoulder. Almost immediately, his expression changed. “We’re just friends, you know,” she eventually added, thinking that might be the problem.

   Suddenly, he was smiling again. “I think it’s a great idea,” he said softly.

   “Awesome! Hold on, I’m going to call Layna.” She walked into the living room, but soon popped her head through the kitchen door again. “I think I left my phone upstairs. I’m going to change too, okay? Just put everything on the counter, I will clean it up later.” When the God of Mischief nodded, she ran up the stairs to her room. She looked around. _Phone, phone, phone, where are you? GOTCHA!!! Oh, come on, Layna, pick up._

   “Hey,” she heard finally. Sadie smiled and switched over to Dutch. “I had the most awesome idea.”

   “Really, now? What is it?”

   Sadie paused for the dramatic effect. “We still have Peter’s number, right? Why don’t we call him and ask if they come over? Like, all the Avengers?”

   The line was silent for a few seconds. Then her sister screamed in her ear so loudly she almost dropped her phone. “THAT’S AWESOME!!! WHAT SHOULD I DO?”

   “Well,” Sadie started, rubbing her hurting ear, “buy more presents, for starters. And we could really use some delicious food and maybe a real christmas tree?” After her sister had agreed and had hung up, Sadie changed into her normal clothes. She went downstairs to see Loki lying on the couch, flipping through a book he had probably found while looking through the room. However, when she walked through the door, he looked up. Sadie grinned. “It seems like we have a lot of work to do,” she said.

 

After the phone call from her sister, Layna turned to face Thor. They had already bought him casual clothes, which he had changed into, so they were gathering way less weird looks than before. The only looks being cast their way now, were probably caused by how stunning Thor looked. Layna had bought him dark blue jeans, a plain button-up and a vest to go over it. His coat looked warm and comfy, but was hung loosely over his arm, as it was warm in the mall. Layna hadn’t done a lot about her own appearance, so she felt a little bit self-conscious as she looked at all the beautiful women in the mall, but Thor only seemed to have eyes for her, so she had shoved the self-deprecating thoughts to the back of her mind.

   “Well, as you had probably already guessed, that was Sadie. She called to tell us she and Loki had gotten the most brilliant idea ever. We are going to invite the Avengers over to celebrate Christmas here. I’m sure they’ll be excited to hear from you.”

   Thor looked surprised at the plan. “You know the Avengers personally?”

   Layna started nodding, but stopped herself. “Well, sort of… We got to know Peter during a science conference for college students. We were apparently interested in the same exhibits, since we kept bumping into each other, so eventually we decided to look at the other exhibits together. Before we left, we exchanged phone numbers, totally platonically, of course, and he introduced us to Steve and Tony, who have basically become his dads by now.”

   Thor nodded, agreeing when he thought of the way the three of them had interacted when he last saw them. He liked the plan too. It had been too long since he last spoke with most of the Avengers. Of course he had spoken with Bruce on their mission to defeat Hela, but contacting him was out of the question now that he had no way of finding out where their spaceship was. An evening with his closest friends would do him good. “It sounds like a great idea. I take it we have to do something here that she called you instead of telling us when we got home?” Thor asked.

   Layna nodded excitedly. “We have to buy more presents,” she said with a grin, and she pointed at a store with a big Christmas display. “Let’s start there. Do you know what your friends like and don’t like?” She didn’t give him the time to answer, as she pushed Thor in the direction of the store and went in. Everywhere they looked, they could see garlands, Christmas lights and small decorated trees. It was a bit overwhelming, really. Layna ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ at all the things that were displayed. Some of the things were just ridiculous and they walked past them after a quick laugh.

   Suddenly, Thor’s attention was drawn to a discrete display in the corner of the store. “What about that?” he said, pointing at a small army of action figures.

   “What? Why would you buy action figures?”

   “No, not figures, just one. Do you see the one of Hawkeye in the corner? Clint may know how to hide it fairly well, but he is a total geek, so he would absolutely love to know there’s an action figure of himself too.”

   “Fair enough, I would like that too, to be honest… Alright, we’ll buy it.”

   In the end, they bought an action figure for Clint, a new set of throwing knives for Natasha, a sketchbook for Steve, decorated with his shield on the cover, a Sherlock Holmes movie for Tony, starring his döppelganger Robert Downey Jr. and a 3D pen for Peter. Gifts for Loki and Thor were a bit trickier.

   When they walked past a party store, Thor spotted a crown with huge fake gems imbedded in it. He burst out laughing. “Oh, that would be perfect for my brother. He has always wanted to be king, this is the perfect opportunity.”

   Layna giggled. “Alright, I have to admit, that's funny, but we should get a real present too at some point.” Thor nodded and stepped into the store, smiling like a child in a candy store. A minute later, they came out again, holding a bag with Loki’s crown. Layna began walking to the exit of the mall. “I guess that’s all for now. I’m not going to buy you a present when you’re here too, so I’ll return here with Sadie in a few days.” They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, but it was broken by a gasp from Layna. She grabbed Thor’s arm and squeezed hard. “Oh my gods, look! Christmas trees! Come on come on come on!”

   Thor tried to keep up with all the bags, but still arrived a few seconds later than Layna. “Wait for me. I’m not as fast as normal with all these bags,” he huffed out to the gleaming girl.

   “But Thor, trees! We have to take one home and decorate it, it’s tradition.” Thor shook his head, but shifted the bags with clothes and presents to one arms, so he could carry a Christmas tree with the other. “Great! Now we have everything.” Thor snorted and after picking the most beautiful tree in the entire world they started heading home. The way back was made incredibly difficult by all their purchases, but they eventually managed to arrive at the sisters’ house without causing any accidents


	3. Only a few days left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more shopping, interesting surprises and the arrival of the Avengers!

“Look! There they are!” Sadie exclaimed. “With… no food…” As soon as her sister opened the door, Sadie walked into the hallway. “Where is the food? I only see gifts and clothes. And a tree, of course.” She pointed an accusing finger at Layna. 

   Layna hit herself on the forehead. “I forgot about that! I got distracted by the small forest in the mall,” she said. 

   “Of course you did, it’s you. You have the attention span of squirrel.” Sadie shook her head. 

   “That’s,” Layna said, pausing for a dramatic effect, “so true.” She pulled Thor into the living room and showed him where to drop the bags. “Sadie, we have to go shopping with just the two of us so we can buy gifts for our favourite gods,” she called to her little sister. 

   Sadie huffed. “Alright, but only when they are going outside too. They can buy presents for us, though they would use our money, so I don’t know if that really counts. Nah, who cares, it’s the thought that counts.” 

   Layna rolled her eyes at her sister. It was obvious Sadie just wanted presents, but she agreed it would be more fun with the two of them. Again, it looked like the two gods didn’t have any say in their activities, but they weren’t protesting. Layna turned to look at her sister. “Did you call Peter?” she asked. 

   This time it was Sadie’s turn to hit herself against her forehead. “Uhmm, nooo?” she said.

   “That’s not a question you can answer with a question,” Layna said. “I’ll call him, if I leave it you, it’ll never happen…” Sadie grinned sheepishly at the truth in those words and dropped down on the couch. Layna grabbed her phone out her bag and dialled Peter’s number.

   He didn’t pick up for a long time, but just before Layna could hang up, he answered. “Hello?” it sounded sleepily. “Who is this? What are you calling me for at… six in the morning?!”

   “Greetings Petey,” Layna said, a grin in her voice. “How are you doing, my fellow earthling?”

   Peter groaned as he recognised who was calling him. When he spoke again, he sounded ready to hang up again. "Layna, geez, it’s too early for your chatter. What do you want?”

   “Petey, aren’t you happy to talk to me again? It’s been, what? Three days, entirely too long,” Layna said smugly. 

   Because she was looking out of the window, she didn’t see the look Loki gave Sadie, that said, ‘Are you sure he’s just a friend?’. 

   Sadie whispered: “Yeah, I’m sure. You’ve no idea how she acts when she’s around guys she likes. Or actually…” She gave Thor a thoughtful look. “Maybe you do.” Loki’s eyes glimmered with mirth as he looked between Layna and Thor. The latter seemed totally oblivious to all that was being discussed. 

   “Okay, here’s the deal,” Layna spoke in the phone. “Sadie came up with the most brilliant idea ever. What would you say about celebrating Christmas with us here in Belgium? Bring the Avengers…” 

   Peter made a thoughtful noise. “I would love to, but don’t know about the rest. Wait a minute, I’ll go and see if Tony’s hasn’t collapsed in his lab yet.” Layna proceeded to tell him all about the last few days while Peter went down to Tony’s lab. She left out the fact that both Sadie and she probably had a crush on the gods, but made a mental note to tell him in person when the Avengers arrived at their house.  She heard a door open and the sounds of a small explosion. 

   “Shit!” came through the phone in Tony’s voice. “Dum-E, I’m not on fire, stop that.” Layna burst out laughing. She could easily imagine what Tony’s lab must have looked like after what she assumed was an explosion just now. Peter apparently couldn’t keep in his laughter either, and thus alerted Tony that he wasn’t alone anymore.

   “Everything is going well, I see?” he said as greeting.

   “Oh, oh, oh! Put me on speaker,” Layna demanded. After Peter had confirmed she was now on speaker phone, she spoke to Tony. “We kidnapped someone. Actually, we kidnapped two someones. Want to find out who?” 

   Before Layna could say more, Sadie called from the other side of the room. “She’s lying! We didn’t kidnap anyone!” she yelled.  

   Layna spluttered. “Sis, you’re ruining a perfectly confusing phone call. Now how am I going to convince them to come here?” 

   They all heard Tony and Peter laughing in the background. “Well, if that isn’t my two favourite ladies,” Tony said, still laughing softly. “To what do we owe the pleasure, Layna and Sadie?”

   “We are inviting you all to celebrate Christmas here in Belgium,” was the only thing Layna said. 

   Tony huffed. “So you really didn’t kidnap someone?” he asked.  

   “Weeell…” she answered in a high pitched voice. “We never said that.”

   Peter chuckled, as he already knew what she meant, but kept his mouth shut about what Layna had told him. It was way more fun like this.

   “What?” Tony asked. You could practically see the way he must have narrowed his eyes at that. “Okay, that’s it, we’re coming. When can you have us?” 

   Layna cheered and Sadie smiled. “As soon as you’re available,” Sadie told him. “Make sure to bring Steve, Bruce, Tash and Clint too. We already got them gifts, so they have to come.” 

   Layna nodded, then remembered they couldn't see him on the other end of the phone and spoke up. “Yes! You have to bring them! Promise?” Layna asked. 

   Tony chuckled. “Yes, alright, they’re probably dying to see you guys anyway. We have a surprise for you, though… We picked up a few stray dogs when you weren't here. Get ready to meet the Winter Soldier and Falcon.” 

   Layna basically threw her phone when Tony said those names. Lucky for her, Thor was standing close by and caught it before it could hit the ground. “What?!” Layna screamed. “That’s awesome, man! Sadie, we should buy them gifts too!” 

   “Okay, Layna, calm down. I’m going to tell the others and Peter will text you when we’re coming.” 

   After saying their goodbyes, they both hang up and Layna jumped up and down. Sadie stood up from her seat and put her hands on her sister’s shoulders, but Layna grabbed Sadie’s hands and danced through the room with her. Loki and Thor looked at them with a fond expression on their face. Their eyes met and they knew they both thought the same thing: ‘Yep, those are the idiots we like.’ Layna and Sadie dropped on the floor laughing and it took them (Layna) a while to be able to stop crying and rolling across the floor with laughter. She laid on her back and looked up to the ceiling, trying to control her breathing. 

   “Bucky!” she yelled. “We’re going to meet Bucky, Thor, do you realise how awesome that is?” 

   Thor grinned. “Well, he is a bit quiet at first, but when you get to know him, he’s really funny.” He looked over at the stack of bags with presents. “Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, clean that up?” When Layna nodded, he and Loki pulled the sisters up from the floor and the four of them set to work. Thor and Layna put away the presents and Loki and Sadie found a way to keep the Christmas tree upright. They pulled the decorations out of the basement and decorated the tree with gold and red festoons and angel's hair. When not only the tree, but the entire room had been decorated, they all felt like they deserved a break, so they left the decorations for what they were and sat down on the couch. After a small discussion, Sadie and Layna decided the gods had to have a taste of 'oliebollen’. They had bought them the day before, so they were still edible. Sadie put them in the microwave and a minute later, she came back from the kitchen, balancing the Dutch Doughnuts and powdered sugar in her arms. Layna doused her and Thor’s Dutch Doughnuts in a generous amount of powdered sugar and took a bite, accidentally blowing a cloud of sugar in Thor’s face. 

   “Hey!” he yelled, and wiped the sugar out his eyes. Loki arched an eyebrow and, shaking his head, turned to Sadie. She had put a much more sensible amount of sugar on their treats and digged in as well. The Dutch Doughnuts were delicious and everyone was quiet for a minute. 

   Thor was the first one to finish his. He licked his fingers and smiled. “As you had predicted, this was delicious.” He smiled again, this time to Layna. Her cheeks slightly reddened. She turned around and looked at the clock on the wall. It was five p.m. by now and they were exhausted. Layna took everyone’s plates and stood up to walk the kitchen. It had been all fun and games up till now, but she and her sister actually had some work to do over their vacation. Where on earth had she put that book? Despite having last read it in the kitchen, it wasn’t on the table or in any cupboards, so she must have put it away in a more logical place. Sighing, she walked back to the living room and turned around in a circle. Suddenly, she saw her book peeping out from under a stack of books. However, Thor's hammer was inconveniently placed on top of it. She walked over and pulled it towards her with one hand, making sure the books wouldn’t topple over with the other. The hammer was surprisingly easy to lift and she walked over to the couch with Mjölnir in her hand.

   “Thor,” she sighed. “Really? Please don’t leave your stuff all over the place.” She dropped the hammer in Thor’s lap and walked back to the books, totally missing the flabbergasted look on the brothers’ faces. 

   “Loki,” Thor started, but couldn’t form any other words as he opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish. Loki didn’t look any better as he stared to the object Thor was now holding in his hands. 

   Sadie looked confused, but couldn’t suppress a mischievous grin at their faces. “Layna, I don't know what’s going on, but I believe you’ll want to see the faces they’re making.” 

   Layna had managed to get the book she was looking for without dropping everything else and walked over to the couch. She placed the book on her chair next to Thor and waved a hand in front of his face, grinning. “Uhmm, Thor? Everything okay?” 

   He snapped out of his surprised state and looked at her with a mix of awe and disbelief in his eyes. “I… you… What do you know about Mjölnir?” he asked. 

   Layna arched an eyebrow, but shrugged. “Not that much, actually. I believe there was this myth about you being the only one who can lift it, but obviously that’s all it is, a myth…” 

   Thor shook his head. “No, it's not. I’ve used it multiple times to pin enemies down, because no-one was able to move it even an inch. Mjölnir refuses to be moved by anyone who isn’t worthy of its powers.” When he saw Layna still didn’t believe him, he walked over to Loki and put it on the small table in front of them. “Brother, please show Layna and Sadie I’m telling the truth?” Loki stood next to his brother and grabbed the hammer with both his hands, using his entire weight to move the hammer. It didn’t budge and remained where it was. 

   Sadie jumped up from the couch. “Wait, lemme try it.” She gently pushed Loki to the side and took the same position as he had. She pulled with all her might, but Mjølnir didn’t move an inch. Sadie looked at her sister and a huge grin appeared on their faces. 

   “Man, that’s awesome,” Layna whispered, taking Mjölnir from the table. She pointed it at Thor. “You do realise I’m never going to put this thing down again, right?” 

   Thor nodded. “Yeah, I thought as much. But go ahead, I don’t need it to fight enemies here anyway.” 

   Suddenly, Layna’s phone chimed with an incoming text and she lurched forward to grab it from the coffee table, where Thor had put it after their call with Tony. “It’s from Peter,” she said. “He says they’re able to come in a few days. Probably three, so that’s the 21st. Well, I don’t see any reason that won’t work.” She sent him a quick text with the hand that wasn’t holding Mjölnir, saying that that worked for them too, and put her phone on the table again. She smiled and turned to her younger sister. “I guess we’re going to have to buy more presents tomorrow.”

 

The following three days were spent preparing for their Christmas party, considering there were going to be thrice as many people as they had originally thought. The tree looked extremely beautiful and every single present beneath it was wrapped in cute gift wrap. The four of them bonded over all the small tasks that came with preparing a party, such as shopping. Explaining to the brothers how an ATM worked turned out to be quite difficult… (“Don’t hit it, just press it, gently.” (Loki) “I AM PRESSING IT GENTLY, IT’S NOT WORKING!” (Thor)). Layna and Sadie eventually put them on a bench in the middle of the mall, telling them to stay put as they bought gifts for Bucky, Sam, Thor and Loki. The brothers helped them as much as they could and slowly, they grew closer to each other. There were a lot of casual touches and by the time the day had come of the Avengers’ arrival, they were completely comfortable around each other. It was 9 o’clock in the morning when Sadie was preparing the food and needed Layna’s help. She opened the door and walked outside, but was stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her sister, standing close to Thor. Like, close  close.  _ Really  _ close. They hadn’t seen her yet, so she kept quiet. After a few seconds, Thor lifted Layna’s chin with his hand and gently pressed his lips on hers. She inwardly fangirled and walked back inside as silently as she could, tapping Loki on the shoulder where he was seated on the couch.  When he looked up, she placed a finger on her lips to stop his questions. She nodded to the window.  _ You need to see this _ , she mouthed. He frowned, but stood and walked after her. When he saw what was happening in the garden, his eyes grew big and he grinned mischievously. As he made a move to open the door, Sadie put a hand on his shoulder. 

   “Don’t you dare,” she said, effectively stopping the god’s movement. “My sister deserves this.” 

   After what seemed like an eternity, the couple outside broke apart. Thor suddenly looked up and looked right at Sadie and Loki. “Stop peeking!” he yelled. Layna turned tomato red and started giggling uncontrollably. She hid her face in Thor’s chest and he wrapped his arms around her. He laid his chin on her head and smiled. Loki held his thumbs up and turned around, walking to the kitchen to help Sadie with the food. The Avengers had left in the afternoon, so they were due to arrive in only half an hour. Though they wouldn’t judge if the food wasn’t ready, Sadie still wanted it to be ready, even if it was just to calm her mind. She pulled the last things out of the oven and put them on the counter. She looked approvingly at the food and nodded. Then she turned to look at the clock on the wall.

   “What are we going to do when they arrive? They don’t know you’re here yet…” 

   Loki shrugged. “Does it matter?” he asked. 

   Sadie looked at him in disbelief. “Does it matter, he asks. Of course it does!” She sighed and shook her head. “They think you’re in space. Not here. Wait, I’ll ask Layna what she had in mind. Or maybe… not. If she’s still busy… with your brother…” 

   Loki snorted and walked to the back of the house. He knocked on the door to get the pair’s attention and opened the door. “Sadie wants to know what Layna’s idea was about receiving the Avengers.” 

   Layna’s head poked around Thor’s broad shoulders and she furrowed her brows. “What do you mean, ideas?”

   “Most of them still don’t know we’re here. What did you plan for their arrival?” Loki repeated.

   Layna's eyes began to shine with mirth. “Well, you know, just let them in. You guys will be sitting on the couch. I want to see their faces when they recognise you.” Both Thor and Loki laughed at her enthusiasm and the three of them walked inside, helping Sadie with the last preparations, before they sat down on the couch. Without thinking about it anymore, she picked up Mjölnir and spun it around her finger, almost hitting herself on the head while doing so. When the doorbell rang, Layna dropped Mjölnir in Thor’s lap and she and Sadie jumped out of their seats and ran to the front door.  Sadie was the fastest and opened the door. Immediately, she was thrown to the ground by Peter, who hugged her tightly. Layna stepped over the two of them and embraced Tony and Steve. Only after they had let each other go, Steve turned to the only two guys the girls didn't know to introduce them.

   “Sadie, Layna, these are Bucky and Sam. Sam, Bucky, meet these two lovely friends of Peter’s. Girls, how nice to finally see you again.” Layna was bouncing on her feet again and didn’t wait until Steve had finished talking to push him aside gently and pull Bucky in a tight hug. Sadie rolled her eyes and just waved. Bucky seemed surprised and a little uncomfortable at first, but soon relaxed into the warm hug. Layna let go of Bucky and gave Sam the same treatment. He had been expecting it, however, so he immediately returned the hug. Sadie walked over to Clint and Natasha and held out her arms. Clint smiled and only held out his hand in return, but Natasha quickly embraced the girl and pressed a kiss on the crown on her head. 

   “Well, not that this reunion isn’t touching, but I, for one, would like to see if you’ve really kidnapped someone,” Tony eventually said. Both of the girls began to smile and turned to the door to the living room, gesturing for them to follow. Curiously, the group of superheroes followed them inside, only to be stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Thor and Loki sitting on the couch. They both had their casual  clothes on, but they were easily recognisable. 

   “Surprise,” Loki said in a sing-song voice. 

   Peter was the first one the say something. “Dude, you really did kidnap Thor and Loki, didn’t you? That’s awesome!”  

   “I know, right?” Layna said and showed their flabbergasted guests where they could sit down. Once everyone had sat down around the coffee table, Layna squirmed in her seat next to Thor. He laughed as she tried to make herself smaller than she was to fit in the little space that was left and pulled her on his lap. 

   Sadie turned to Peter once more and whispered in his ear. “I think Layna has more reasons to think they’re awesome. Especially Thor.” When Peter raised his eyebrows, she nodded.

   “They…?” he whispered.

   “Caught them red-handed this morning.” 

   Peter’s jaw dropped. “No way.” He was silent for a minute. “And you and Loki…?” Sadie’s cheeks flushed a crimson red and she shook her head. “Well…” Peter wiggled his eyebrows. “Not yet, you mean.” He burst out laughing at the scandalised look Sadie gave him as she slapped him on the leg. Loki looked at the interaction curiously, but Sadie shook her head to assure him everything was fine. Then she threw another meaningful look at Peter. 

   “So…” Clint said as he turned to Loki. “Have you turned someone else over to the dark side yet? No evil plans made for today?” Natasha clipped him on the head, but didn’t apologise for his behaviour, nor did anyone else. Sadie looked at Loki to see how the words affected him and was surprised to see that he appeared to have become see-through. Not that anyone noticed. She had read something about that when reading up on Norse mythology. Loki had the power to conjure up illusions of himself. Was that what was happening right now? Sadie looked at Layna, but she was too busy with sitting on Thor’s lap and laughing at something Steve had said to notice their little situation. Eventually, Sadie got up and walked towards the door, waving away the questioning gazes she got from Tony and Sam. There was no one outside, so she went upstairs. When she opened the door to her room, she saw Loki standing in front of the window, looking outside. He heard her enter and turned around. 

   “What?” he asked. “Have you come to mock me too?”

   “No,” she said, and went to stand next to him in front of the window. “I noticed it wasn’t you sitting downstairs, so I decided to come looking for you.”

   “You noticed? How did you see it wasn’t me?” He looked distressed at finding out his illusion hadn’t worked. His lower lip began to tremble, but he tried to hide it. He never cried. Never. Not even now. Most certainly not now.

   “Hey, it’s okay, no-one else saw,” Sadie tried to calm him down. She didn’t know how to deal with crying men. “When I looked around the room, no-one looked at you twice, so I think I’m the only one for whom you seemed see-through.” 

   Suddenly, he slammed his fist on the window sill. “You looked through my illusion? Who am I if even my illusions fail?” he said dramatically. Sadie frowned her eyes and put a hand on his shoulder, but he slapped it away. “Please, my fair lady, don’t. If you try to calm me down now, you might get hurt.” Sadie ignored his warning and pulled the god into a hug. Loki looked down at her, surprised. No-one had ever disobeyed his orders like that. He stood there uncomfortably, but after a minute or two, he started to relax, realising that he wasn’t going to hurt her. He basked in her warmth for a few minutes. He could feel her rapid heartbeat through their clothes. When she looked up at him, he couldn’t help himself. This girl had accepted him for who he was without preamble. She made him feel like he was actually special and a good person. He had to do everything he could to keep her in his life. After a few seconds of staring in each other’s eyes, he leaned forward. She didn’t pull away. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth while he pressed his lips on hers. It felt like coming home. She moved her arms up to lie around his neck and pulled him closer as the kiss grew more heated. Before clothes could be lost, they pulled back and shyly let go of each other. 

   “How were you able to leave the room with everyone there? From what I’ve heard, you have to walk away from the place you’ve left an illusion?” Sadie asked softly. 

  “I didn’t. I left the room when you were greeting everyone. Thor promised not to tell anyone, he knew they were probably going to react poorly to seeing me there.”

   “And you were planning on staying here the entire night? What were you going to do during dinner? You didn’t really think this through, huh?” 

   Loki shook his head and sighed. “No, not really. I guess I panicked. I don’t know if I want to go downstairs when everyone is so hostile…”

   Sadie run her hands through his hair and pressed her forehead against his. “Not everyone. You already know Layna and I like you. The only one reacting badly were Clint and maybe Natasha, because Clint was put under your spell once. Everyone else were douchebags because they didn’t tell him to quit it.” During her little speech, she had been working herself up about what had happened and by now she was ready to hit Clint for speaking to Loki like that. 

   He tried to smile and stood upright. “You’re probably right.” 

  “Probably?”

   A genuine smile now appeared on Loki’s face. “You are right.”

  “That’s better. Come on, we’re going downstairs and slap Clint in the face,” Sadie said, pulling Loki down the stairs with a hand loosely around his wrist. 


	4. Christmas!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time for presents has finally arrived!

After Layna had attempted to sit in her chair next to Thor, not sure whether she wanted the rest to know about their new found relationship, Thor had laughed and pulled her in his lap, deciding for her. Everyone had congratulated them and Layna had blushed furiously again, but didn’t hide her face from the group. She had been too distracted by all the stories that were told about the Avengers’ victories to notice Sadie leaving the room. She did, however, notice the atmosphere had become far too tense at the other side of the room to converse comfortably. What was going on over there? She turned to Thor.

   “What’s going on over there?” she whispered in his ear. “I don’t see Sadie anywhere and it’s like they are too uncomfortable to have a normal conversation…”

   “Okay, don’t tell the others, but before you invited the other Avengers inside Loki conjured an illusion and went upstairs himself. He was afraid the others wouldn’t be as happy to see him as you at first were and would make snide remarks, and I suspect that’s exactly what’s happened. No, don’t get mad!” Layna had almost the same reaction as Sadie had had upstairs, unbeknownst to them. Thor tried to calm her down, but couldn’t smooth out the frown that had appeared on her face. She sat up straight and wanted to stand, but Thor pulled her down softly and shook his head. Slowly, he pointed to the ceiling above their heads. 

    “If he is there, which I'm fairly certain of, she is probably there too.” 

   Layna's eyes began to shine with mischief. “You mean…?” she asked.

   Thor nodded. “I can't be sure, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if…” Before he could continue, however, they heard loud footsteps running down the stairs, calmer ones following one second later. Layna turned around in Thor's lap and pushed her hands against his chest to look at the door, which made Thor oomph loudly. Sadie came barging through the door, closely followed by Loki, who cancelled out his illusion. If people hadn't looked up when Sadie threw open the door, they did when Loki suddenly disappeared in front of their eyes. It had been a while since Layna had last seen her sister so angry. It kind of scared her. Sadie pulled Loki with her as she walked to the chairs everyone was sitting on and folded her arms in front of her chest. She gave everyone a stern look before she opened her mouth.

   “How dare you?” she hissed through gritted teeth. “How dare you insult one of our guests? He has paid for his mistakes and doesn't deserve any of your…. Your… Ugh! Why can't I find that stupid English word?!” Loki winced and put a hand on her shoulder, probably to calm her down, but it didn't help much. Actually, it didn't help at all. She just grew angrier and angrier, yelling at everyone, even Peter. 

   “No Loki, I’m not going to calm down. This is serious. If they can't respect you, they can just leave.” Layna looked at their circle of friends, slightly amused at the ashamed looks on most of their faces. Even though Sadie could be a bit dramatic, her outburst was getting the message across. When Sadie fell silent, Natasha stood up and extended her hand towards Loki. After some hesitation, he shook it and they nodded curtly, Loki acknowledging and accepting Natasha’s unspoken words.

   “Fine,” Clint said eventually. He too stood up and walked over to Loki. “Sorry, dude.”

   A mocking smile appeared on Loki's face. “Dude?” he asked.

   Clint scrunched up his face. “What? You want a ‘my humble apologies, my lord Loki of Asgard, God of Mischief’?” Natasha slapped his arm, hard. “Hey!” Clint yelled. “What was that for?”

  “That is not a proper apology, Clint. You won't get out of this one, I promise you. Sorry for him, Loki, he is just… Weird. A bit childish too… He is just… Clint. You will get used to it.” She gave Clint a glare. “In a few decades.” 

   Loki snorted and gave Clint a small smile. “I’m afraid I can't say I’m never childish, either, so apologies accepted.” Sadie raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Loki. He made a mocking bow and pressed a kiss on her knuckles. Her cheeks flushed a crimson red and she took a step backwards. “Thank you for standing up for me, my fair lady.” 

   Sadie’s cheeks reddened and reddened. “I’m not your fair lady,” she whispered, but it was only for show. Loki smirked as if to say, 'Right… You sure about that?’ and walked to the couch to take the place where his illusion had been seated earlier. When he had sat down, he gestured for Sadie to sit beside him. When she did, he put an arm around her and pulled her closer. Layna looked at Thor conspiratorially. 

   “Told you,” Thor whispered. 

   Layna pursed her lips to keep herself from laughing. “Alright guys, lunchtime!” she yelled after a look at her watch and Sam eagerly agreed. He was the first one to jump up and walk to the kitchen with Layna. They walked back quickly, their arms full with baskets of bread and other food. Sadie immediately shot up and snatched a croissant from a basket in Sam’s arms. 

   When Loki gave her a queer look, she shrugged. “What? It's with cheese. Here, try it.” She tore off a small piece and handed it to Loki. He arched an eyebrow, but leaned forward  nonetheless and opened his mouth a little, just enough to fit the chunk of bread Sadie was trying to feed him. After Layna and Sam had put all the food on the small coffee table (which only fit because there were several baskets put on top of each other), Thor pulled Layna in his lap once more. She started to giggle and made Thor try every single sort of bread before he could choose one on his own. He only smiled and cooperated. It wasn’t like he could do anything about it. She would probably force the pieces down his throat if she had to. The conversations around them started to flow more easily and within ten minutes, the spirit was up to normal. Still, a warning glance was shot at Clint every time he opened his mouth, but he behaved and didn't mock Loki again. When all the bread had disappeared, the group continued to chatter about their lives, catching up on the most recent events, even though some of the Avengers dozed off through the course of the afternoon. 

   Around five o’clock, Layna's patience was gone and she pointed at the Christmas tree. “Hey guys, I know it isn't officially Christmas yet, but what about opening some presents?” Everyone looked her way excitedly at the prospect of presents and they got up to grab their own presents for the others. When everyone was done tripping the others to be the first to reach the tree and find their presents and was seated again, Tony looked at the sisters.

  “Who is going to start?” 

   Layna shot up in Thor’s lap. “Ooh, me, me, me! But first, some music.” She got up to put on some music and grabbed the present she had bought for Sadie on her way back. Until this moment, she had forgotten what she had chosen for her sister, but the moment they had put the presents under the tree, she had remembered. This was going to be hilarious. “Sadie, the first present of the evening is for you.” She couldn't hide her smirk and Sadie looked at her with suspicion. 

   “What is it? Layna, what did you do?” 

   Layna just shook her head. “Come on, open it. You’ll see.” 

   Sadie took the large package from Layna's hands and started unwrapping it. The moment she recognised the object, she started to squeal excitedly, momentarily forgetting about the god next to her. “No freaking way! You bought this?! Where did you find it?!” she screamed. She grabbed the object with her right hand and stood up. The scepter was longer than she was. Most of the others looked confused at first, but a groan could be heard from Loki. Layna burst out laughing from where she had sat down in Thor’s lap again. 

   Thor couldn't keep a straight face either. “Where and why did you buy a replica of Loki’s scepter?” he asked Layna, who was wiping tears from laughter from her eyes. 

   “I thought it would be awesome,” she said, still half crying. “Look at her! It's longer than she is. I totally forgot about it until we were placing the presents underneath the tree.” 

   “That’s my… scepter,” they heard Loki say. 

   They looked up to see Sadie nodding vigorously before pointing the scepter at him. “Kneel,” she said in an over serious and commanding tone. Loki’s jaw dropped and his eyes grew big. A small shudder ran over his back when he looked at her eyes, both commanding and laughing at the same time. They were a beautiful shade of green.

   Beside Layna, Thor burst out laughing. “It’s a perfect fit!” Thor bellowed. 

   “Oh my gosh, you're right!” Layna said, starting to laugh again. Soon, all the Avengers joined in. When everyone had calmed down a bit, Sadie got a mischievous look in her eyes. She shot one glance at her sister before turning to Loki again. He tried to stand, but Sadie put the scepter on his chest and pushed him back.

   “Don’t you dare. Just stay put.” 

   “He’s not your dog!” Layna said. 

   Sadie chuckled. “Well… Usually you’re right, sis, but now… No.” 

   Layna instantly understood what had happened upstairs and clapped in her hands excitedly. She looked as her sister as she reached for the pile of presents next to the couch and pulling out a present just as big as hers had been. When Loki tried to stand again, she pushed against his chest with more force. Then she turned to her sister. “Layna, you're up next. You’re going to like this, trust me.” 

   Layna took the present from her sister's hands and looked at Loki amusedly one last time before tearing away the wrappings. She almost crushed Thor when she whooped and fell back into the couch, or in this case, Thor. Layna was rendered speechless as she took out a bow and arrow just like Hawkeye's. Layna jumped from her seat, notched an arrow and pointed it at Thor. 

   “Any last words, sweetie?” she asked coyly. Thor arched and eyebrow. 

   Clint had jumped from the couch too and thrust his fist into the air. Thor didn't get the chance to say any last words, for Clint interrupted him. “Girl, that's awesome! How good is your aim?” 

   Layna chuckled. “I probably wouldn't hit Thor from this distance, you moron, so not very good.” Clint promised to help her with that as soon as they got the chance and when Thor was once again safe, more presents were opened. Tony wouldn't stop bragging at how handsome his doppelganger was, Natasha playfully threatened everyone with her new knives, Clint was absolutely in love with his action figure, Steve looked like he immediately wanted to start drawing in his sketchbook, and Peter was taking in almost the entire table with newly drawn 3D-structures. When they got to the presents for Bucky and Sam, Sadie and Layna were bouncing up and down their seats. 

   “For Asgard’s sake, what’s wrong with you, Sadie?” asked Loki.

   “Shut up.” 

   “No.” 

   “Yes.” 

   “Make me.” 

   “Fine.” Sadie looked at Loki challengingly. 

   “People, people, easy!” Peter said, but Layna covered his mouth with her hand, urging him to be quiet. 

   “Shh, it's just getting interesting.”

   “It’s your sister, you pervert!” he hissed. 

   “I told you to zip it.” Without saying anything else, Layna turned in Thor’s lap. Sadie and Loki were still looking at each other, waiting for the other to move. Eventually, Loki was the one to lean forward. He cupped Sadie’s face with his hands and gently pushed his lips on hers. Layna cheered and the pair pulled away, turning red. “Okay, enough fluffiness for now, Bucky and Sam still haven't had our presents.” She gave Bucky an original copy of a Romanian book and Sam a book about Falcons. They both hugged the sisters and suddenly, Layna and Sadie were hugged by all the Avengers. Although Layna loved all the hugging, she didn't really feel the need to be in the center of attention for a long time, so she distracted everyone by turning up the volume of the music. “Karaoke, anyone? I know at least some of us can sing properly and I would love to find out about the rest of you.” Even though some groans could be heard around the room, there were no real protests against the idea, so Layna scrolled through her playlist for some good songs. 

   “Oh oh oh, I know a song!” Sadie said. She walked over to her sister and whispered something in her ear. Layna began to chuckle and scrolled down her playlist. The moment they heard 'You’re teasing me’, Layna threw all her dignity out the window and went in full performance mode. She walked towards Thor and ran a finger over his shirt. Some of the Avengers had started chuckling when the first notes of the song had sounded through the room, but since Thor and Loki weren’t born on Earth, they had no idea about the nature of the song. Hence why a hilarious look of surprise appeared on Thor’s face the moment Layna sang the first words. Their audience started cheering and encouraged Layna to go even further. She let her hands slide to the hem of his shirt and playfully slid it up a few inches, revealing a stripe of tanned skin. However, that’s where she drew the line, so she dropped his shirt and continued singing with a little more distance between them. When the song was finished, everyone cheered and applauded and the next song was put on. Most of the others songs were mostly innocent, but Sadie had her own moment to shine with ‘I just want to make love to you’. Almost everyone sang at least one song. A few voices were a huge surprise, like Natasha's and Tony's. 

   When they had all had dinner, after Layna had almost accidentally put the house on fire, Thor spoke up. “I saw there was a place to make a fire outside. Perhaps we could-”

  Layna jumped up (again, Thor oomphed loudly) and clapped her hands together. “That’s an awesome idea! Let’s go!”  

   “Layna, how much have you drunk?” Sadie asked. 

   “Nothing. Why do you ask?” 

   “Doesn’t matter. Let’s go.” Sadie stood up too, a little bit slower than her sister, and grabbed Loki’s hand. She softly pulled him towards the garden, where her whirlwind of a sister had already started to set up a fire. She wasn’t very good at it, though.

   Thor walked over to her, wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a kiss on her cheek. “Need some help, sweetheart?” Before Layna could answer, he had pulled her back from the heap of wood she had made slightly and a bolt of lightning shot from the air. It hit the wood and instantly lit the fire.

   Layna gaped at the fire. “Oh. My. Gods. That was awesome! Show me more,” she demanded. 

   Thor, however, shook his head, smiling smugly, and pulled her down with him on the ground. After a look of dismay from Layna, he burst out laughing and buried his face in the crook of her neck. She let out a soft squeal of excitement and clapped her hands when he lifted his hand, sparkles dancing in the air. 

   “Awesomesauce,” she whispered, her eyes gleaming with mirth. 

   Everybody sat down around the fire. Somewhere, someone got hold of some marshmallows and a few sticks to roast them. This was the best Christmas the sisters had ever had. 

  
  
  



End file.
